Elon Musk says $20 million fine, for a tweet worth it

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc, Chief Executive Elon Musk said the tweet that cost him and the company $20 million in fines each by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision was “Worth It”.

The tweet, sent late Friday evening less than an hour before Musk tweeted that he would take a break from Twitter “for a few days,” was in response to a question from a Twitter follower.

The SEC in September charged Musk, 47, with misleading investors with tweets on Aug. 7 that said he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 a share and had secured funding. The tweets had no basis in fact, and the ensuing market chaos hurt investors, regulators claimed.